Blueberries are a superfood from your own garden. That's why it's even more annoying when crop failure occurs due to disease or pests. However, it gets really disgusting when there are maggots in the blue berries.
Can there be worms in blueberries?
Since the cherry vinegar fly (Drosophila suzukii) was detected in Germany, Switzerland and Austria in 2011, worms (maggots) can occur inblueberries The fruit fly originally comes from Asia and was probably introduced with infected berries or stone fruits.
Are the maggots of the cherry vinegar fly dangerous for humans?
Blueberriesthat are infected by the cherry vinegar flyare consideredspoiled and inedible, if
- the berries have injuries,
- Give juice and
- smell like vinegar.
- If you open these fruits, the maggots can be seen with the naked eye.
If the blueberries look and smell OK, they are considered safe to consume, even if the berries are freshly infected, i.e. egg laying has already taken place or the larvae have just hatched.
Can I still harvest the blueberries from an infected bush?
You can harvest blueberries from an infected bushif you take the followingthings into account:
- only harvest intact berries (smell, appearance)
- pick immediately when ripe
- cool immediately (development is stopped) or
- process immediately (kill by heating or alcohol)
How can I prevent worms in blueberries?
As a preventive measure against the cherry vinegar fly, it is recommended to wrap the blueberry bush at the location with aclose-meshed netSince the pests are tiny, you should use a so-called maggot protection net. Conventional nets used against snacking birds are too coarse-meshed. Vinegar traps or yellow boards are considered ineffective because the traps are unattractive to flies as soon as they find ripening blueberries.
Tip
Worms in wild blueberries
The cherry vinegar fly attacks not only cultivated blueberries but also wild blueberries. Therefore, when picking wild blueberries, you should also make sure that the fruits do not show any symptoms of infestation. However, many experts deny the risk of infection with the fox tapeworm, whose eggs are said to stick to blueberries.
